REAL NEAT BLOG AWARD: a belated thank you…

Last week Lynn at BOOKS AND TRAVELING WITH LYNN nominated me for this award: thank you so much and my sincere apologies for such a late reply! My only excuse is that I was away from home with only my faithful tablet that is indeed a wonderful, compact device for keeping in touch with the rest of the world, but is also sheer nightmare for typing anything beyond a simple, straightforward sentence. As I told a friend, writing on a tablet can only result in a typo fest…

So, now that I’m back to a more comfortable way of posting (With a real keyboard! And a mouse! 😀 ) I can get on with the business of fulfilling my part of the award’s requirements, which are:

A) Thank the blogger who nominated you – check (thank you so much, Lynn!)

B) Answer the seven questions that the nomination provided you. Here we go:

1) If you could meet any author, from any time (past and present), who would that be and what would be your most pressing question?

That’s an easy one: GRR Martin, and the question – surprise, surprise – would be about a firm publication date for The Winds of Winter.

2) Who is your absolute favourite character, ever. I know you’re probably groaning and rolling your eyes but there must be one character that springs to mind immediately – probably followed by a host of others – but, I want that first knee jerk reaction please and why!

Let’s remain on Game of Thrones territory then: the knee-jerk reaction reply would be Arya Stark – I’ve always admired her strength of character and determination, and rooted for her since day one.

3) What is your favorite series out of all the books you’ve read? The series you would recommend without hesitation.

Since I just finished the fourth (and hopefully not last!) volume of M.L. Brennan’s Generation V series, I would go with that one: urban fantasy that does not rely on the usual tropes and that mixes drama and humor in a seamless whole.

4) What’s your preferred reading format, book or e-reader?

E-reader: I can take with me more than one book, no matter how big, and acquire new titles as soon as I decide I would like to read them. Fast and practical: no one could ask for more!

5) The book you were most looking forward to but ended up being really disappointed with?

In recent times it was Robert McCammon’s The Border: I had high expectations for this one, since I enjoyed the author’s previous books, but this one ended up in the DNF corner…

6) Blogging – what do you love/not love – any embarrassing moments?

What I love most of the blogging experience is the exchange of points of view over books, and the way that sometimes they can wildly diverge: it’s truly fascinating to observe how different people see the same story from different angles and help me gain insights that I would not be able to obtain on my own.

7) Most anticipated book for the remainder of 2016?

The new one for James S.A. Corey’s The Expanse series: Babylon’s Ashes – which reminds me: it’s already out! I need to rush to my ebook seller straight away! 🙂

C) Create seven questions for your nominees:

1) What’s the book that you have owned for the longest time and not read yet?

2) What’s the book (or series) that you feel you “must” read and yet don’t feel inclined to?

3) Books are usually better than their movie translations, but sometimes the opposite happens. Do you have any example for this… strange phenomenon?

4) A book everyone hated and you loved.

5) A book everyone loved and you hated.

6) Your favorite quote from a beloved book.

7) Is there a closed book series that you wish had continued?

D) Nominate seven other bloggers:

For this I employed a highly scientific, very complex method called drawing lots (you can find more information on Wikipedia…) and here are the winners, in alphabetical order:

Wonderful responses! I had no idea you were reading the Generation V series?!?! ZOMG you must tell us what you think soon, I love those books and can’t wait to gush with you. I’m so sad because I’m told book four is the last one, at least for the foreseeable future D:

I wonder when that Q&A was posted, because two more books would be amazing! Even a Kitsune spinoff! Soon after DA came out though, I recall a post on Brennan’s blog that said the series as a whole didn’t do well enough so that her publisher isn’t going to be buying more books beyond the four…but I do hope they change their mind some day!